I use a Littledot mk3 and for about $250.00 and less if you buy it with no tubes because you can buy tubes for this amp for $5.00 each sometimes less if you want and if you like tube rolling theres tons of 7 pin tubes that are plug and play and adaptors that can be made to use octals ,and 9 pin tubes i use the Littledot with my Senns hd800 and it sounds very good to me and i use my Burson Conductor's Dac .Check out the LITTLEDOT DOT TUBE ROLLING GUIDE thread.

For those with the HD800 and on a budget, I say get the Vali and with the $$$ saved, invest that into a top-class DAC. You will not be disappointed.

Or, a good DAC and some top-class source files. The HD800 forced me to (happily) discard about 10 years of mp3 music files. Sign up with Highresaudio.com, Hdtracks, Bluecoast, Linnrecords, e-onkyo, etc. Download their free samples, use their discount codes, download free so-called `needle drop` 24-bit rips from quality vinyl for music you already own, share music with your friends. I`ve built a new library of high-resolution music and it`s made the HD800s, my IEMs and my speakers huge sources of pleasure.

To appreciate the HD800, you have to move on from over-compressed, lossy files. The most expensive amps and dacs in the world won`t overcome the issue.

Anything more recent than Napster's 128kbit mp3s is fine and hires is just a bonus, but you don't need that to "appreciate" HD800.

I guess your quote marks are referring to my post. Your scorn seems odd. Perhaps you missed the context of my comment : I was adding my opinion to the discussion above about expensive DACs and amplifiers, and referring specifically to the fact that the revealing nature of higher-end gear makes lossy rips and poor mastering more blatant than lower-end gear. So using high-end gear with low-rez music files is a waste of time and money.

In my opinion, which is based on my experience, which is what this is, a forum for opinions and experiences. And I didn`t say anything about musical tastes.

Last night I downloaded the Eagles , the studio albums , from I tunes. They are 'mastered for I tunes' versions and I did some A/B comparisons with the 24/96 versions I have . Modern day 256 AAC is amazing that's all I can say. For one thing the dynamic range showing in pure music showed that the mastered for I tunes versions had about 2 -4 Db better range than the high res versions and to my ears the presentation was slightly better. I think It just shows how important the mastering is and compression done right can sound equal to high res. (to my ears, IMO Etc....)

Not exactly... if your ears don't hear a difference (or problem) when listening to MP3s on your gear, then by all means keep them and enjoy listening to them. But for those of us that do hear a difference, learn proper ripping and encoding methodology for your preferred format(s), and have fun re-discovering your music!

Does anyone here find HD800 to be to polite? Something missing in attack and punch. I don't get this. They are obviously very dynamic, I would say more than K702 but when it comes to orchestral climaxes e.g. they just don't do it right IMHO. Thats also very noticeable in every record with decently captured Steinway. It sounds 'smaller' on HD800 compared to K702 or even HD600. Its easier to follow music's rhythmical structure on K702 than on HD800.

I really love the Senns and can't get enough of that extremely resolving sound but I found my self listening more and more to chamber music with them because of these 'cons'. I highly doubt it, but could it be my amp? I've tried 4 so far and currently running them with HA-160 as I like it best among these.

I know exactly what you mean and I have always thought of it as a positive, it's almost the hd800 showing off its level of control and that amazing soundstage . If you look at the objective data on the 800s it's clear that they deliver the sound exactly as should be so maybe it's the recording that lacks the attack and other phones 'add' attack?

What is your source and amplification? I'm finding that the source/DAC can make a huge difference. Listening to Patricia Barber right now and and it's like I'm sitting at the front table of a jazz club. It does not sound small at all. Fabulous attack, polite and aggressive when it needs to be. Sending shivers up and down my spine.

If the recording/source/amplification is good, the HD800 will sing! Any weakness in the chain will be revealed. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by James-uk

I know exactly what you mean and I have always thought of it as a positive, it's almost the hd800 showing off its level of control and that amazing soundstage . If you look at the objective data on the 800s it's clear that they deliver the sound exactly as should be so maybe it's the recording that lacks the attack and other phones 'add' attack?

I hear that to Mickey, but I think it had more to do with the recording/ mastering. That's the beautiful thing about the 800s, they are so transparent they can sound distant and have weak attack with one recording and they can sound warm , intimate and have aggressive attack with another. They don't have a 'sound signature' . They just allow the 1 and 0s to pass through .